


Triple Delivery

by Xormak



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bow Is a Good Friend (She-Ra), Gen, POV Catra (She-Ra), Poor Catra (She-Ra)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:15:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25626541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xormak/pseuds/Xormak
Summary: Catra works as a delivery worker, old wounds get opened, old friends reappear and new friends are being made.
Relationships: Adora/Catra/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 49





	1. Alley Cat

Her name was Catra and she was the ace of urban athletes, ruler of the rooftops and self-proclaimed sovereign of the streets. And she was on her way to work on this cold Monday morning.

Since she picked up a routine of walking at least a mile every morning before starting her day properly her life had changed drastically from what it used to be, back in the Fright Zone.

From finding a job, even if it bored her most of the time, to making new friends, her life had definitely improved.

For the most part.

Leaving the place that she grew up in had definitely left its marks on her.  
She had left a lot of people that she grew up with behind. Some of them she genuinely would have called friends. Some of them she would prefer to forget. And some she wasn’t sure if she could face them ever again, for one reason or another.

“But that’s beside the point” she thought. She was getting close to her workplace and had no time to reminisce too much about the past. Nearing the entrance she stopped, took a deep breath and sighed, preparing herself to face her employers once again. The sign above the door taunting her as it did every morning, a frown clouding her face as she read the words ‘Alley Cats’ written in bright, pink letters on it.

She took another breath, finding the motivation to finally enter. She was greeted with the usual warmth and smell of baked goods that she had learned to appreciate over the past months.  
A collection of Little trinkets, souvenirs and other oddities covered the small, chest high shelves.  
And in the far corner of the room she saw what was responsible for the smell, a little snack bar with snacks and baked goods just as little. Despite her disposition towards her employers she prefered this to her own flat which was everything but comfortable. Not that she had ever really tried to improve on that.

A familiar voice from the door to the back of the shop tore her right out of her thoughts. “Good morning Catra! How’s our favorite alley cat doing today? Also, you’re right on time, we got a lot of deliveries to take care of! You’re taking the eastern part today.” 

A tall young man standing in the door frame, looking at her with his usual beaming expression. This was Bow, one of her employers. Even though he and his friend, Glimmer, who ran the place together with him, were about the same age as herself they had managed to build up a respectable little establishment. 

Even though the ‘Alley Cats’ are mostly known for taking care of deliveries in the less frequented parts of the city they also sold all kinds of stuff to better cover some of the expenses.

Catra lets out a yawn “Morning Bow. The eastern part? Isn’t that usually Glimmer’s territory?”  
  
He hands her a large duffel bag he had clearly already prepared. “Yea but she’s still asleep and Madame Razz expects her delivery in about an hour. So you better get going.”

Catra shrugs “All the same to me. Makes you wonder though, how someone with that much energy always manages to sleep in. Also, Madame Razz you say? Wasn’t she that kooky old lady that lives in the abandoned park? What do they call it again.. The sighing thicket?”

Bow not missing a beat and already moving to take care of the next thing only replies with “The Whispering Woods. And she’s not _kooky_ , Catra.”  
  
“Yea sure, whatever.” She checks the bag, a sizable parcel simply labelled ‘Razz’ is sitting right atop a bunch of letters and smaller parcels. Most of the names she instantly recognizes, already starting to plan a route in her head. She grabs a quick snack from the little snack bar and heads outside, back into the cold morning air.

She starts with the route she had planned, first walking then falling into a fast paced trot as her legs get used to it again. The fresh air blowing through her mane-like hair as she hurries through the streets and alleys, delivering parcels, packages and letters to their respective addresses. 

As she turned around another corner she barely managed not to run into the large woman on the other side. “Good morning Catra! How are y-” She doesn’t leave her time to finish as she darts by, waving back over her shoulder “Mornin’ Scorps! Sorry, no time for chatting!” 

Even though she wasn’t really under any pressure, she knew that if she stopped she’d get dragged into an hour long conversation with that woman. 

She meets a few other familiar faces along the way. Most of them only exchanged a quick passing nod with her while others also tried to talk to her. She’d have time later in the day to socialize. Right now she just wanted to get done with her task. Which was easier thought than done. She had only managed to cover half of the distance towards the entrance of the Whispering Woods and wasn’t even sure where in that park old Madame Razz even lived.

Fortunately for her there were only a few more letters to deliver on the way before she could focus completely on that last part. 

Usually she wasn’t even one to be this dedicated to her job. In fact most of the time she’d preferred to waste as much time lazing about as she could justify. But in this case it was a challenge she had posed to herself. And if there’s one thing she’d take seriously, it’s a challenge.

Having delivered all other packages Catra made her way to Madame Razz, following the trail through the old park until she reached a makeshift hut, overgrown by moss and foliage from the nearby trees. She approached it carefully, keeping an eye out for trouble even though she was fully aware that this would be the least likely place to get ambushed at.

“Madame Razz? Are you home? I got a package for you.” 

“Yes, yes, I’m coming.” Pushing away part of the foliage a small, old lady steps out of the shed. Dressed in a wildly thrown together outfit, her long unkempt hair almost reaching down to the ground she stares at Catra for a few seconds, scanning her from head to toe. She squints, looking Catra straight in the eyes before she blurts out:

“You do not look trustworthy! Razz does not trust you! What do you want from Razz!” Holding her broom almost like a weapon.

Catra backs up, holding up her hands with the bag “Whoa there, as i said, i got a package for you. No need to take out the broom. Look, i’ll put it down right here and you can come and pick it up.” She hears Razz murmuring something that she can’t quite understand as she puts down the last package. She takes a few more steps back and waits until Razz picks up the package.

The old lady turns it around several times before quickly opening it - letting out a loud gasp when she uncovers its contents “Oh, dearie, what a nice present ~” She looks back up at Catra, a much softer look on her face now. “Thank you, dearie. Have a good day!” She focuses back on the package as she walks in and for just a second Catra could see the insides of the package which looked like… berries? 

“Who sends raw berries to be delivered to old ladies out in the wild?!”

On her way back, Catra kept thinking about her visit at Madame Razz’s place. The berries just wouldn’t leave her mind.

Bow was already waiting for her inside when she got back. His trademark smile covering his face from ear to ear and his hands behind his back. Was he holding something? Please don’t let it be another delivery.

“Heyyy Alley Cat, sooo -” 

“Please. Stop. Calling me. That.”

“Soo, since you have been working here and helping us for over three months now, Glimmer and I had a little talk. And we really wanted to show our gratitude, even if Glimmer is still currently on her own route, for what you do. And we thought we could also make it something that all of us could enjoy...”

Right as he says that she notices that he’s wearing a different t-shirt than he did before she left.  
A black and white, diagonally striped shirt with the magenta face of a cat and the words ‘Alley Cats’ right in front and center on the chest.  
  
“And so we decided to get ourselves a proper set of uniforms!” He was practically beaming with excitement.

Catra slowly took a step back. Then another. The smile she had from her morning walk and subsequent run long gone.

“You’re serious about this, aren’t you? You actually expect me to wear this?!” She took another step back, her back hitting the wall.  
  
Bow gave her his best puppy eyes “Pleeeaaasee? We even tried to make it less glittery than we initially wanted to~”  
  
She let out a loud groan. “Fine! Hand it over.” He throws her the shirt and she takes off the hoodie she was wearing and simply pulls it over her current shirt. Fits rather nicely, actually. And even though she’d never admit it, the design looked kind of cute. How did they get her size?!

As if he could read her mind, Bow pulled her back to reality “Glimmer looked at the general sizes you usually wear and then took a guess on the rest. Seems she’s got a good eye for that.“

“Yea, I guess she does. But how long -”

Again, as if he could read her mind, Bow interrupted her, even more excited “- have we planned this? About 4 weeks. We got lucky! Glimmer's aunt works for a tailoring company and hooked us up with one of their designers. We had a meeting with them, settled on an idea and voilà! T-shirts! OH! Also, we’re also about to hire someone new.” 

“Huh, lucky for you that Sparkles seems to have some good connections. WAIT WHAT?!”  
  
“Yea! We still don’t cover as much area as we want to and could need some more assistance. Also, the shop itself has been way more profitable as of late. It’s a little bit of a risk but we both agreed that it’d be for the best.”

Catra gave him a dry look “And they are coming for an interview -”

Bow looks at his watch “In about half an hour!”

She took a deep breath “And you want me to -”

“Help me with the interview. Please! Glimmer trusts our decision and we think you are the best to judge potential candidates!”

She sighed “Bow, I am literally the only person here besides Glimmer that even has experience delivering.” She holds, trying to find a good reason to say ‘no’ but gives up. The return of his puppy eyes didn’t make this any easier. “Fine, just, give me a few minutes. I’ll try to think of some questions that could be relevant.”


	2. Streetwise Hercules

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Awkward meeting between old friends.   
> Cat goes MEOW and Blonde goes POW!

“Who even is that applicant? Do I know them?” Catra says

“Uhmmm, let me check the application, i should have it somewhere around here ~”

As he said that, Catra’s ears twitched at the sound of the door and the footsteps of someone entering. 

By the sound of it, they didn’t seem to know this place. Someone new. But they also sound too confident to be an intruder. 

Maybe it’s the applicant? But if they’re that overly punctual they already lost valuable points with her. Don’t need yet another goody two shoes in here. 

She sighed quietly, seeing as Bow was still searching through his documents and didn’t seem to have heard anything “I heard someone entering. I’ll go check. Maybe it’s the appli-” 

“Hello!? Is anyone there?! The door wasn’t locked so I let myself in! Is that alright?” 

The sound of the voice made her immediately freeze up mid step. Her heart was suddenly pounding. She knew that voice. Or, she thought that she knew it. It sounded fuller, more mature than she remembered. 

She needed a moment to collect herself before she continued towards the main store area.   
This couldn’t possibly be her, she told herself. She left them, her, all that time ago. She hardly remembered her. No. That was a lie. She vividly remembered her face, hair, smell, favourite drink, food and even sleeping position. Not that she didn’t try to forget.    
Again. A lie. She never really tried. She gave up half heartedly on the first attempt.

Again the familiar voice called out “Hello! I am here to apply for the job! I was told I’d get a chance at an interview today?”

She didn’t even notice that she was still standing in place, frozen mid-step. 

Catra collected herself and called out “I am coming!” She immediately turned red. Why did she say that? Why did she say it that way?! She wanted to die. She wanted to crawl under the closest table and whither away. But here she was, walking straight towards that familiar voice.

Just as she stepped around another shelf, finding herself in the center of the saleroom, she heard the familiar voice calling out “C-Catra?!” in an all too familiar manner.

Catra, still collecting herself from these awkward circumstances, turned to take in the familiar sight. 

Long, blonde hair tied in a ponytail with a tuft? a fluff? a bun? a hill? a mound? Of hair connecting it and her forehead.   
A red jacket that stretched around her shoulders. Of course it’d be a red jacket. What else would she be wearing?

Trying to fake composure she put on her best smirk as she almost purred “Hey, Adora. Didn’t expect  _ you _ to be the new applicant.”

The blonde was staring at her. 

She was looking at the blonde with a raised eyebrow.

Finally Adora broke the silence. “You work  _ here _ ?”

“Is that the first thing you have to say? Is it that surprising?” Catra countered.

“Sorry.” Adora said, with a hint of a smirk on her face now. “I should have asked ‘You  _ work _ here?’ .”

Catra, slightly annoyed, repeated “ _ That _ is what you’re focusing on? It’s that surprising?”   
  
“But you  _ hate _ work.” Adora retorted.

Catra groaned “I  _ hated _ working for free back … there. Also, i enjoy this job quite a lot, actually. They pay well, I get to actually do something and the faster I work, the earlier I can leave each day.”

Adora still had a look of doubt on her face “So you’re on the delivery team?”

“I AM the delivery team. Spark…  _ Glimmer _ helps on busier days but I take care of the majority of deliveries.”

“Ohh. Wait, you actually  _ do work _ ?” Adora asked again.

Catra started to show clear signs of annoyance, her tail sharply swishing back and forth “YES. I. WORK. HERE. It can’t be  _ THAT _ surprising?!”

Adora giggled “It kind of is? Last we saw each other you were apprehensive to even tidy your room.”

Bow who finally joined them chimed in “Catra’s actually been a great help around here! She’s the reason we can even afford another employee. You must be Adora, right? The new applicant? Do you have your documents with you by chance? I seem to have lost the copies you sent.”

Something about his voice sounded off. For a second it sounded to her like he had practiced those lines beforehand. She didn’t have time to think too much about it, though.

In mere seconds Adora’s expression went from amusement to despair “N-nooooo! I knew I forgot something! Should I go back and get them? I’ll be back later if you -”

Catra burst out in laughter “And you are still as forgetful as you were back then! I can’t believe it. Did you also forget to change your jacket?”

Now it was Adora’s turn to look flustered “Noo! This one’s new even… kind of!”

Bow tried to calm her down “It’s alright! We can do the interview without them. Catra. You’re ready, right?”

Catra ignored him and talked directly to Adora “So, you’re still as fast as back then? Or did the high age slow you down?”

Adora put on her smuggest grin “Bet i can still beat you in a foot race any day. And any time.”

Catra couldn’t help but to grin back “Like, right now? Good, you’re on, slowpoke. Bow, I’ll go out and test the  _ applicant _ . Tell Glimmer that it’s her turn to clean the dishes when she gets back! Come on Adora!”

Before Bow could even formulate a response, Catra was already pulling Adora outside the shop.

Catra jabbed Adora in the side before she started jogging down the street, beckoning Adora to follow her. “Are you coming? Or are you just going to stand around all day?”

They both started jogging down the street, Adora easily keeping the pace but staying a few steps behind Catra. Taking in the sight of her old childhood friend all grown up. Taking it in? No, she just … observed. Yes. Observing her new work partner.

Catra turned her head to her as she kept the pace, a somewhat devious smile spanning from ear to ear “We should be getting close. I knew you’d easily keep up on ground but to really be efficient we’re gonna take a different route.”

“A different route?”

“The roofs. They make traversing this mess of a town far easier and faster.”

“Aren’t they off limits?”

Catra stopped, leaning against the next wall “They would be if there was anyone to enforce that rule. If you haven’t noticed, we’re outside the reach of justice here. That’s why we even do what we do. Cause no one cares enough about this part of the city to establish even basic infrastructure. So, we take matters into our own hands. Anyway come here.”

Adora followed Catra into a nearby alley with a pile of stacked boxes. High enough that an adult could grab onto the edge of the roofs from the most top one. Convenient. Catra immediately started jumping up the crates until she reached the top. She made this look really easy. 

Soon she was lounging up there, looking down at Adora with her usual smug grin. “You coming?”

Catra was hardly able to hold back a chuckle at the sight of Adora’s less than graceful ascent but several curses, splinters and bruises later Adora also reached the top of the crates. 

“You know you could have saved yourself the amusement and just helped me up, Catra?”

“I could have but this is a test, remember? Anyway, let’s get going.    
We got a lot more ground to cover.”

Adora followed her up on the roofs with a muffled growl.

Once she was up on the roofs, the first thing Adora could do was to take in the view.    
An ocean of rooftops, chimneys and balconies, stretching before her as far as her eyes could see. 

To the south-east, the horizon was broken up by the skyline of the commercial district of Etheria and it’s skyscrapers, while the silhouette of the Fright Zone, the slums and industrial districts, casted their shadows on the other side of the metropolis.

The Fright Zone. She tried not to think about it but it didn't help. Memories of its dark, cave-like alleys, the constant, monotonous sounds of machinery and the rough shouting of the workers still rang like in her memories.

Catra broke her out of her thoughts by casually asking “So, what have you been doing anyway? After leaving, that is.”

Adora, trying to hide her face, didn’t turn around as she responded “Ohh you know. Getting by. Earning enough to stay alive. Nothing special.”

Catras ears twitched, she could easily tell that Adora was withholding information. “Then why would you want to apply for this job in particular? We don’t make that much. If you were getting by before you were probably doing better than you’ll be doing here.”

Adora kept looking over the city as she confessed “It’s not just about the money.”

Catra was a little surprised at that. She decided to pry just a little more “Then  _ what _ is it about?”

The blonde didn’t answer and only kept looking more and more uncomfortable. And before she could finally respond …

_ C L A N G. C L A N G. C L A N G. _

The sound of metal hitting metal broke the silence between them. Both Catra and Adora practically turned on their heels towards the origin of the noise only to be face to face with three armored men.   
Proudly bearing the red emblem of the Horde, an organized group of vigilante, jokingly called the local  _ law enforcement _ , on their chests. 

Two of them are carrying metal batons while the third and largest one seems to hold what looks like an oversized stun-gun. 

The big one spoke first, his condescending tone immediately rubbing Catra the wrong way “Well, what have we here. Don’t you know that the roofs are off limits for you?” He pauses before a wide grin is forming behind his visor and he continues “Kitten. Good to see you again. You do know what happens after multiple offences, don’t you? And now you even bring one of your friends along to be punished as well? What a shame.”

“Not really, after all you haven’t really managed to catch me yet, now have you?” Catra responded in her own condescending way. She slowly started to shift her balance, ready to dodge at any moment.

She could see the smile on his face remaining as he suddenly bellowed out “GET ‘EM!”

And with that all hell broke loose. Her ears twitched as the sound of three… no, four? No six pairs of feet filled the air around her. They had already surrounded them. Without her noticing. She would have to scold herself for that later.

However, she could hardly react before a blur of red and yellow already moved past her. The sound of two bodies hitting the floor almost made her look but she didn’t really have the luxury of time either as she ducked under an attack from the two goons that had snuck up behind them. Their batons just barely grazed her back. 

From behind her she heard the dampened sound of something  _ cracking _ . Was it her? Them? She wanted to look, to make sure, but Catra knew she couldn’t ignore the two next to her.

Still in a crouching position she quickly kicked out backwards, aiming low. The satisfying feeling of her heel connecting with the shin of one of her assailants, followed by their pained groan and the sound of them hitting the floor, told her all she needed.

Using the force of the impact as an additional push, she rolled forward, easily avoiding the retaliation by her assailants companion. Their baton only hit the empty ground where she had been moments before. 

_ Another cracking sound. She had to get rid of the other one. Quickly. _

Turning around she found herself in a perfect position to grab said baton and, with a quick pull, dragged its wielder off balance, causing them to stumble and fall over the edge of the terrace they were on. Finally free of her own assailants she looked around and saw Adora locked in a one-on-one with their leader.

To her surprise Adora had seemingly already disposed of the other two horde soldiers. Their bodies laid motionless to either side of the two remaining combatants while their leader was just about to hit Adora with his weapon. But she, again to Catras surprise, didn’t even attempt to dodge. Instead she grabbed the weapon itself, tearing it from his hand, and rammed the end of the handle into the side of his helmet, sending him tumbling to the ground as well.

Her bl-… THE blonde was now standing amidst the bodies of three armed soldiers without as much as a bruise, her chest slowly rising and sinking. The only thing that Catra noticed which seemed off was a dark red streak across the outside of her palm. And for just a split second she could swear that she saw a metallic sheen around Adoras fingers before they vanished in her pockets.

She wasn’t the little blonde girl that she used to rope into stealing food from adults anymore.    
In the child’s place stood a woman. A fighter.

At that moment she looked  _ powerful.  _

_ Larger than life. _


	3. Absolute Territory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra tries to reconnect with her old friend Adora who seems to be rather reluctant to go into detail about her private life.

As the dust settled Adora walked over to Catra, holding out her hand to help her old friend up. More than happy to be helped up Catra wrapped her own around Adora’s hand before she was suddenly up on her feet again. The surprisingly strong grip and pull from her childhood friend caused her to come off balance. 

“Whoa, when did you become that strong?” Catra blurted out. She almost would have bitten her own tongue if it wasn’t for Adora’s reaction, who almost immediately flinched at the inquiry. 

Her hand running against her _still_ _silly looking_ poof and down her ponytail. Her voice was far less steady than before.  
“I am working out more. You know, keeping in shape. For the job.”

“Uh-huh?” Catra murmured. Raising an eyebrow at the blonde’s vague explanation.

“Yuh-uh!” Adora quickly confirmed. 

But Catra wasn’t satisfied and kept prying “And that also includes training in unarmed combat against multiple opponents?”

Adora dug her hands deeper into her pockets as she explained “It’s a less conventional workout program, okay? What’s it to you?”

Catra circled around her old friend cutting into her path and looking up at her, her brows furrowed in distrust. However she quickly relaxed again, her face carrying her signature smug grin. “All right, then. Keep your secrets.” She turned around and started marching back towards the shop. 

With a look over her shoulder she asked “You coming?”

“Y-yea!” Adora scrambled after her. Whatever kind of energy had befallen her earlier had completely vanished and she was back to her usual self.

“Soooooo ...” It was Adora’s turn to pry a little “How are you doing? Like, in general. Not that you’d need to actually tell me if you don’t want to ~”

“I’m .. doing fine. Better than I did back there.” Catra nudged her head in the direction of the fright zone. “I got my own apartment, regular working hours. The payment is decent and I get to work with people that don’t treat me like I’m just another expandable worker.”

“That's great, Catra!” Adora assured her. She sounded genuinely happy for her.

Catra glimpsed back at her. “Yea. To be honest, I think you’ll fit right in. Both of them are real Samaritans compared to the force captains of the horde.” 

“Can’t believe we wanted to be like them when we were still there. Well, I wanted to. You on the other hand actually got the promotion and still decided to leave.” She turned around to give Adora an almost inquisitive look while walking backwards, easily avoiding any obstacles in her way as if she either had a kind of sixth sense or as if she had walked this path uncountable times before. 

Adora ran her finger through her ponytail. “At first i believed what they told us. That they were working towards a better future. And even when I found out the truth I wanted to try and make a change.” She gave Catra a pitiful look. ”Guess you can imagine how that worked out.”

Catra scoffed “I could have told you that from the start. Actually, I think I did.”

The blonde threw her head back and groaned “I know.”

“But” Catra picked up again “We’re out of that place now, right? We have our chance to do better. Without the horde. Without having to worry about them too much.”

Adora glared at her “How can you say that when they are still terrorizing people? When we literally just got away from them again?”

“And what are  _ you _ gonna  _ do _ about it?” Catra snapped back at her ”Are you going to run head-first into their headquarters and ask them nicely not to do these things anymore? Or are you gonna try and beat them up until they magically become nice people? Why would any of them give up their comforts? Especially the higher ups! Especially people like Sha- …” She stopped. “Have you even thought about that?.”

“But someone has to do something! Right?” Adora looked at her friend, almost pleading with her.

Catra couldn’t respond. She wanted to say yes but she knew it’d be useless if they tried anything. What hope could only the two of them have to do something against a large organization like the horde. She turned around again. “Just. Come on. Let’s head back.”

...

He only saw a flash of pink before Glimmer’s voice clearly rang through the store.   
“I’m baaaaaack!” 

“Hey Glimmer!” Bow shouted from behind the counter “I’ll be with you in just a sec-”.

Another flash of pink light.

Glimmer’s voice came now from right behind him. “Where is Adora? Shouldn’t she be here for  _ evaluation _ as we planned?” He didn’t need to turn around to know that she had accentuated ‘evaluation’ with air quotes.

Bow scratched his neck “Catra ... kind of took her on a tour through the streets? It seems they knew each other from a long time ago?”

Glimmer raised an eyebrow “She never mentioned anything about that. Like, at all. Not even a hint of ‘Oh, Catra? Yea i know her, we go way back!’ Nothing!”

“Maybe something happened between them back then? Something she didn’t want to bother us with?”

“But why would she think that? We’re her friends! Right?” Glimmer sighs 

Bow put his hand on her shoulder “Glimmer, calm down. We can ask them when they’re back. Talk it out with them.”

Her response followed a resigned sigh “I  _ am _ calm. But she’s done this before. Every other weekend she goes out and every time I ask her where to she either evades or outright ignores the question.” She looked up at him and leaned against his shoulder “I worry about her, Bow. Not necessarily her safety but her mental state. She seems so restless...”

“We’re back!”

They didn’t hear the doorbell ring, causing Glimmer to shriek when both Catra’s and Adora’s voices cut clear into their conversation.


End file.
